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ouncer: broadcasting live from charlotte, north carolina the site of the democratic national convention, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: here we are in charlotte, north carolina at the democratic national convention. this is the day three when president obama accepts the nomination. it has been a great convention so far and you know he's going to wrap it up. on the wings flying on the wings of bill clinton and a great speech last night. joining me here on radio row at the time-warner cable arena the president of the naacp mr. ben jealous. good friend of the program. good to have you back. >> thanks, bill. good to be here. >> bill: nice to see you. i must say -- i wasn't in tampa but i watched the whole

convention. when you look at the crowd of delegates in tampa and you look at the crowd of delegates on the floor here in charlotte, it is a different brand of people, isn't it? >> well, i mean, you just see this country when you see these delegates. we had 48 black delegates in tampa and you could be forgiven if you didn't see them. there were thousands of delegates in each place. so 48 is pretty much an all-time low, maybe ever for the republican party. >> bill: here, you're right. this crowd reflects the diversity of this country. not only huge african-american presence and latinos. >> everybody's here. >> bill: everything. i saw a poll recently where mitt romney polling among the african-american community. is there anything -- any reason why an african-american should imagine voting for mitt romney and paul ryan?

>> look, i think there's plenty of reasons for blacks to vote republican. there are republicans around this country who are doing good things. depending on what your issue is. rick snyder in michigan vetoed photo i.d. set himself apart from other republican governors. rick perry, 12 progressive criminal justice reform bills and has announced texas is shutting down its first prison ever so there are some folks -- you know what, if i was romney, i would talk about things like that. i would strike a centrist position on this whole vote suppression issue. i would talk about criminal justice reform because you know what ron paul laid the ground work for it. i would talk about small businesses which is a very sort of bread and butter republican issue and there's a lot of black small business people. you gotta wonder. they say that paul ryan is a chip off the block but if he is, he didn't learn much from jack

kemp because jack kemp would be talking about all of those -- >> bill: amen. >> he understood those weren't just black issues or issues of color. those are working people issues. >> bill: i hear this lament. the criticism maybe you hear from a lot of conservatives. well, democrats take the black community for granted. and well, you know, it is not even worth trying for the african-american vote because they're all going to vote democratic anyway. they're not making any effort to get the african-american vote. >> look, george w. bush in 2004 when most of the african-american community was on fire got some 11% of the black vote. so there's actually -- you know, a lot of votes. >> bill: the potential is there. >> it is totally there. you know, mitt, i think could have come to our convention and frankly give a jack kemp speech and picked up three four points right there. on top of the four that mccain got. could have been pushing toward

10%. he totally fumbled it. somebody asked if i thought he was race baiting talking about obama care. i thought he might be. i thought it might be a potential dis to the black community, the way he acted at the convention then i saw how he treated the brits and i was like i don't know. >> bill: like this is who he is. quickly, you mentioned a minute and a half or so left. you mentioned the voter i.d., the voter suppression. we did see in ohio, that was shot down. in texas, it was shot down. still a lot of the measures in many states are going into effect. is that going to have a negative effect on this vote this election? >> no doubt in pennsylvania. look we've got 800,000 voters in pennsylvania who do not have an i.d. we're not going to get 800,000 new i.d.s issued between now and then. everything that goes into finding the documents where you're working two jobs, it won't happen. it will suppress the vote.

in florida you got tens of thousands -- some say hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated people. these are folks like martha stewart, tim allen folks who made a big mistake. they did their time. they're back out. they're being productive. they have a right to vote and in 2008, they could vote. why? because jeb bush and charlie crist reenfranchised formerly incarcerated people. apparently they didn't like the way that worked and he redisenfranchised them and took the votes away from hundreds of thousands of people who could vote in 2008. so those two states for sure. that's just where they're using the law to suppress the vote. you throw in all of the other tactics, yes, it will be a big problem across the country. >> bill: just gotta work that much harder. >> we've gotta search the vote. >> bill: naacp.org correct? >> yes sir. naacp.org. >> bill: good man. thanks so much for stopping by. >> thank you bill. >> bill: i look forward to a big night tonight. >> absolutely. >> bill: we'll be right back.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." cover the convention. but only current puts you at the collision of tv and social media, providing unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct.

>> announcer: live from the democratic national convention in charlotte north carolina, this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: hey hello everybody. good to see you this morning here on this thursday, september 6th. and the third day of the democratic national convention. it is happening in charlotte north carolina. that's where we are in the time-warner cable arena. the site of the democratic national convention and where president obama will be accepting the nomination tonight. no longer in the bank of america stadium because of all of the thunderstorms we've had in

charlotte this week. they didn't want to fill the stadium with 74,000 people and then suddenly have to evacuate them when lightning started striking around so the show continues right here. we're on radio row and at the time-warner cable arena. in the south where it is possible to elect good democrats in the south. john yarmuth has proved that. veteran congressman from kentucky representing kentucky's third district. important member of the house budget committee and a good friend of the program. congressman, good to see you again. >> great to be here, bill. >> bill: nice to be here with you in charlotte. bill clinton in the hall last night. what did you think? you were proud of that, right? >> nobody does it like bill clinton. and what i thought was wonderful about last night it is something that i came to be very much aware of during the healthcare debate that in today's media world, you don't get much of a chance to make the case on these complicated

issues. while people will laugh a little bit that he went on for 50 minutes, he took advantage of that time to -- and the attention that he had of the american public to actually talk about healthcare and the welfare to work program and the disaster that he -- that barack obama -- inherited. so you don't usually get that much opportunity to really focus on these complicated subjects and he did a great job with it. >> bill: the other thing he was able to do is he used his time to rebut the lies that we heard from tampa and to tell the truth and to explain exactly what the case is on medicaid. exactly what the case is on medicare. exactly what the case is on welfare. but he did it in language, what i appreciate is, the language that everybody could understand. >> the way he explained the $716 billion savings and the difference in the approaches of the republicans under paul ryan

and barack obama was as clear as it could possibly be. and just to say you know, you had to have some brass to attack somebody for doing what you did. >> bill: it takes a lot of brass to attack somebody else on what you did. he also was -- he is a classic ad-libber anyhow. several reporters mentioned -- because we get a copy of the speech. i had one -- on my ipad ahead of time. if you follow the speech and you listen, where is he going? he was ad-libbing entire paragraphs. so how does that set up barack obama for tonight do you think? >> it sets him up beautifully because he doesn't have to do all of that stuff. the case was made of the arguments were kind of slapped away and now he can focus on what he wants to do for the next four years. and i assume that's what he's going to do and that's the case that the american people need to

hear. i think it can make all of the difference in the world because nobody knows where romney wants to go except following the paul ryan blueprint which nobody is supportive of. >> bill: republicans don't have anybody nobody has anybody as good as bill clinton. but imagine if they had a bill clinton and mitt romney followed him, i mean it would almost be like they couldn't do it. they would have to stop the convention right? bought here, democrats we've got the blessing of being able to follow bill clinton with the only person who could follow bill clinton i think is barack obama. >> absolutely. now michelle obama. >> bill: yeah, that's true. >> but you're right. i think to lead into him tonight with the vice president is a great idea because nobody talks about the economy in human terms like joe biden does. he humanizes economic stuff better than anyone and i think

even better than bill clinton and he'll be warm and he'll be enthusiastic and probably not very brief. >> bill: he may depart from the script a little bit too. joe biden still has the best summary of what the message of this campaign is all about when he says here, i've got it on a bumper sticker for you. osama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. >> absolutely. i heard joe at an event near my district a couple of years ago and he said he had this one thing, he had the crowd wrapped around his finger and he said you know, the hardest walk any father has to make is to climb that short flight of steps and to tell his son or daughter that they're not going to be able to play in the little league game or go to dancing class because dad lost his job and we have to move. then he paused and said and that's the speech my father had to give in 1952 and it was

like -- oh. so he can be breathtakingly passionate and emotional. i suspect we'll see some of that tonight. >> bill: congressman john yarmuth from kentucky here our guest on radio row at the democratic national convention here in charlotte. you're part of it. always save a seat at the table for you. love your comments on president clinton's speech last night. even republican, even conservative commentators after the speech said wow! wish we had somebody -- wish we had somebody like that. congressman, on the budget committee, one of the big issues, of course, in this campaign is going to be the ryan/romney budget. i call it that way because paul ryan wrote it and mitt romney has embraced it. they say it's going to be the best thing that ever happened to the middle class. do a little bill clinton for us. tell us the truth about that. >> well what the paul ryan budget does is cut taxes for

mostly for the wealthiest americans. another $4 to $5 trillion over ten years. decimates virtually every domestic spending program so you know, a lot of people say that's good because you're talking about a lot of the social safety net expenditures but as president clinton said last night, when you're talking about medicaid slashing medicaid which the ryan budget would cut by a third you're talking about skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes for a lot of our senior citizens, disability support. but also you're talking about -- >> bill: for our aunts and uncles. >> pell grants being slashed education funding infrastructure spending when we need to be spending more not less. virtually everything else. it would dush they say they're going to -- they say they're going to increase defense spending still. so as president clinton said, the arithmetic doesn't work. >> bill: that's what i want to ask you.

again, in your capacity as a member of the budget committee the one thing you expect from a budget, you know, i did a couple of budgets with jerry brown when i was working with him as governor of california, the budget's gotta add up. that's the question. does the ryan budget add up? >> it doesn't. and what he does is he projects a certain level of growth in the economy over the next ten years to make up that deficit and it is a very unrealistic -- it is like 4% to 5% every year growth in the economy. he doesn't have any evidence to support that. he just said it is going to happen. that's how he makes it add up. >> bill: it has been a long time. he also says i'll make up -- i'm going to cut -- close all of the tax loopholes right? but what? which ones? >> he doesn't tell you which one. he won't specify. as many analysts have evaluated in order to get the numbers the savings that he projects from cutting those loopholes you have to get to the mortgage -- home mortgage deduction the charitable deduction and the

deduction that companies get for paying for employee benefits. you can't get to the numbers without cutting those and those are hugely -- that would be hugely unpopular. >> bill: i thought it was very powerful when bill clinton said -- you're going to feel it. these are real cuts to real people, real programs. real people and you're going to feel it and you're going to feel it right away. it is not -- this is not abstract. this has really gone -- >> bill: not a question on the ryan budget. he paints himself as a deficit hawk. i ask you whether it adds up. does it do anything about cutting the deficit? >> after all of those caveats that we just mentioned and he still doesn't balance the budget until 2040. >> bill: so much for a deficit. >> exactly. you know, when secretary geithner treasury secretary geithner was before the committee, we were talking about this. how much are all of these

estimates of 25 years and are they really worth anything with the way the world is changing and so forth. he said i wouldn't swear to any projection more than five years. so all of this doom and gloom that the ryans and the republicans throwing out there about $70 trillion and so forth, there is no way to project those things. but we can talk about the first five years and the ryan budget does absolutely nothing to reduce the deficit in the near term. >> bill: congressman john yarmuth with us here in charlotte on this thursday morning. join the conversation. we'll take your calls when we come back here at 1-866-55-press. on your local progressive talk radio station on current tv, this is the "full court press." day three final day of the democratic national convention. your calls next with congressman yarmuth. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv.

>> announcer: live from the democratic national convention in charlotte, north carolina. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: yes indeed. good to have you with us here in charlotte, north carolina. your chance to participate in the democratic national convention. tonight's the big night when president obama accepts the nomination. here at the time-warner arena and not at the bank of america stadium because we've had a week of thunderstorms off and on here in charlotte. they didn't want to take any chances in packing that stadium and then having to suddenly

evacuate it when the lightning started. great to see you today. good to have you here with us on radio row. congressman john yarmuth from kentucky. in the next hour, congressman sandy levin from michigan, key state and a good colleague of yours. >> absolutely. top democrat on the ways and means committee. >> bill: congressman, before we go to the calls i've got to ask you among your republican colleagues so you've got this budget now about all of the house republicans voted for. 235 of them. designed by paul ryan and now he's the vice presidential nominee. mitt romney said he would sign it day one. would every one of these republicans up for re-election some of them a little nervous about that vote? >> well, i would expect they are. and you know, there was one anonymous republican official who said -- excuse me. when they put paul ryan on the ticket, that that would cost them 20 to 25 house seats

because of that very factor. now, i hope he's right. because that -- it is around their neck. they supported it. and as we make the case over the next couple of months as president clinton started to do last night about what it does. the draconian cuts, the human impact, what the budget will do. i think people are going to pay the price for it. >> bill: that could be the ticket to getting democrat control of the house back. it is a point that can't be made too often. and that is as important as it is to win the white house. it is equally important president obama is not going to be able to achieve his objective unless he's got some people he can work with in congress and john boehner proved that he's not one you can work with, right? >> that's right. and whatever it is, the 65 to 85 tea party members in the house republican conference are wag the dog and controlling the

agenda. and he can't control them. so -- >> bill: in fact, sorry to interrupt -- one of the -- the response of the romney campaign to bill clinton's speech last night was so lame. and whoever their chief spokesperson is said well, yeah but bill clinton was able to do that because he was willing to work with republicans to get a budget passed. well president obama has been willing to work with republicans. the difference is there was a group of republicans in those days who were willing to work with democrats and a democratic president to get something done. this gang is not. >> no. and they're on record, mitch mcconnell said, his top priority is to make barack a one-term president. the house republican leadership met the night of the inauguration to say basically we've gotta deny him any legislative victories because we need to regain power. so they've set out from day one to do that. they've done a good job of it. >> bill: as bill clinton said last night again senator

mcconnell, we're going to keep -- we're going to make sure he keeps his job! something like that. all right. congressman, again, a lot of our viewers and listeners around the country want to join the conversation. let's start out with stuart calling from seattle. hello, stuart. >> caller: hey. i just want to say what a great job bill clinton did. he did a great job for the bosses of both parties at goldman sachs. it was clinton that pushed the so-called nafta deal. >> bill: stuart, hey fine. go have your own party. come on. give the guy a break. let's go to floyd calling from the state of michigan. hi floyd. good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. bill clinton shined last night and you're shining this morning. i don't know how you do it. how you see all of that stuff last night and still show up this morning. >> bill: let me tell you, i'll catch up on my sleep over the weekend. i'm lacking it. you gotta do it.

you stayed up to watch obviously, too. floyd, michigan, key state. people of michigan watching bill clinton, do you think might have brought some of them around? >> caller: well i think we still have to be very careful. i think that line he said about the facts that we all know about, to go by the fact checkers. good thing about the republicans. i think we have to remember the whole republican thing for 30 years is based on not only greed but second is guns and god. they're still out there. that's still their core. we still have to be careful even though we can be excited about what's appearing. >> bill: former president did say on the auto industry when he was talking about that, made it -- i thought an excellent point. it is not just g.m. and chrysler and autoworkers.

who benefitted from the auto rescue. i mean it is all of these -- people all around the country. an ciliaries. >> in kentucky there are like 430 auto supply chain companies. >> bill: whoa! >> we have a large toyota facility near lexington and in my district, in louisville, we have two ford plants. one which is at the end of this year will be the largest ford facility in north america. we also have a truck plant. a total of -- at the end of the year, a total of about 7,000 employees. and ford, for all of the progress it had made, would have gone down if g.m. and chrysler had gone down because the supply chain would have evaporated and the supply chain serves all of the manufacturers. >> bill: can i ask you the name of the main city in your district again? >> louisville. >> bill: now i know how to say it. >> bill: louisville. >> if you say louisville, people

will say you're supposed to say that. all of the tv anchors say louieville. >> bill: i'm going to say it the way you say it. thanks for coming in from louisville. thank you congressman john yarmuth. >> good to be with you bill. >> bill: it is day number three of the democratic national convention. we're on it on radio row the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. here we go. this is the time we normally tell what you the president of the united states is up to today. he's got one event on his

schedule today. staying at a resort outside of charlotte, about 35 minutes out of town by the way. he will be working on his speech, rehearsing his speech and delivering his speech tonight here at the democratic national convention. more importantly, maybe what's coming up next hour together here, great line-up. congressman sandy levin from michigan will be here to give us a look at whether we're going to be able to keep michigan blue. should after all that president obama has done to save the auto industry there. dennis von roekel, head of the national education association will be joining us to talk about the republican war on teachers. and robby mook who is the executive director of the democratic congressional campaign committee to take a look at the chances of getting at least 25 -- picking up 25 new seats and keeping the -- bringing the house back to democratic control.

we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. this thursday morning september 6th. day number three the final day of the democratic national convention here in charlotte north carolina. and i'm going to tell you, it was an exciting night last night. in tampa the republicans had hurricane isaac. last night in charlotte, democrats brought in hurricane bill!

former president bill clinton. they turned the whole podium over to him. turned practically the whole night over to him. he delivered a powerful rebuttal of all of the lies we heard from tampa last week and a most inspiring and passionate case for re-electing barack obama as president of the united states. clinton at his very best last night. we'll tell you all about it. talk to our guest. take your calls at 1-866-55-press here on the "full court press." but first we've gotta find out all of the latest. here she is standing by with today's current news update, lisa ferguson in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. vice president joe biden has a bit of a history of going off script. but tonight, we can likely expect him to stick to his speech as planned. biden is introducing the president tonight and campaign aides say that much of michelle obama played the role in introducing mr. obama as a family man. biden's role is to validate him

as the president. that means highlighting obama's strengths and appealing to groups like labor unions, hispanics and veterans. it is unclear whether biden will seek the presidency again in 2016 but if he does decide to run, tonight's speech could serve as a bit of a kickoff. biden has a tough act to follow after former president bill clinton's speech last night. as we mentioned earlier during the show, hillary clinton was not at the convention. she is in east timor right now on an 11-day swing through asia and the pacific. but that does not mean she was about to miss her husband's speech. take a look at this. here is a great photo from the state department showing mrs. clinton catching up on the dnc. the state department says they took this around midnight eastern time from east timor. bill clinton did write his speech himself and went offscript several times for a few off-the-cuff remarks. mrs. clinton said she's anxious to compare the text version of his speech to what actually came

out. and during that speech last night, hatch tag hillary 2016 was one of the top trends on twitter. back with more bill live in charlotte. stay with us. cover the convention. but only current puts you at the collision of tv and social media, providing unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. brought to you by: spiriva handihaler. if you have copd like i do you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey so what if the republicans have clint eastwood. here in charlotte we democrats had bill clinton! and boy, did he deliver last night. hello, everybody! good morning, good morning. thursday, september 6th. good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press." welcome to the democratic national convention. day number three. tonight, president obama here in the time-warner cable arena in charlotte, north carolina.

will accept the nomination officially of the democratic national convention. and lay out his agenda for the next four years. president clinton last night making the case why everything we heard from tampa was wrong and why -- and why the president deserves another four years. great night last night. looking forward to another one tonight. and president clinton last night -- his main job of course, he was there to nominate the president and he did so in his opening line. here he is. if we -- >> i want barack obama to be the next president of the united states. [ cheers & applause ] and i proudly nominate him to be the standard bearer of the democratic party. >> bill: so we're here on

radio row up in washington, d.c. at the homeship, the mothership, dan henning and cyprian bowlding our philbeckert. peter ogborn is here with me. making his first visit to the "full court press," congressman sandy levin from michigan. good to see you. >> nice to see you bill. >> bill: get close to that microphone. i want to make sure people can hear you. we'll be joined later by dennis van roekel from the national education association. congressman, you've heard president clinton as president and as candidate give many speeches. he never was stronger than he was last night huh? >> no, i don't think ever. he's given many strong speeches i've been privileged to hear many of them. you know, the case had to be laid out. i was talking to a long-time friend of mine who put it this way. sometimes politicians think

people don't want to know, they don't want to know the facts. and people tend to be talked down to. he was talking up to the american people and saying look, here's the case. he took every issue and said how tampa was -- they tampered with the truth. >> bill: yeah. what i thought was brilliant the way he could do in his folksy manner, right summed up the entire message from the three days in tampa. here he is. he did it in three sentences. let's listen. >> in tampa, the republican argument against the president for re-election was actually pretty simple. pretty snappy. it went something like this. we left him a total mess. he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough so fire him and put us back in. [ laughter ] >> exactly.

you know i saw firsthand what a mess it was in michigan, throughout the country. i think 700,000 jobs lost the month the president took over. they're saying that four million, it is not fast enough. and the president -- president clinton said look, we need to keep going! and here's the record. he took -- you can't think of an issue which he did not tear apart the misstatements and often the mistruths of the republicans whether it was medicare -- he was so effective. medicaid. he reminded most of the money for medicaid goes for long-term care and so seniors who have some doubt about whom they should vote for look at that issue. education, he took that apart. every issue where the republicans have really misstated and sometimes i guess he didn't use the word lied.

he said they didn't say it truthfully. >> bill: yeah, right. we can use the word -- i can use the word lied. the president -- on welfare. >> welfare, you know. i was in the middle of that battle. and for the republicans to say -- >> bill: when president clinton was in office. >> exactly. i was on the conference committee. we worked on these issues. it was controversial. but the republicans are lying. in terms of what this president -- president obama has done. he said to the governors we'll give you flexibility. if you can find a way to increase the number of people moving from welfare to work. and as president clinton said, republicans had asked for that discretion. and so you know, you would think republicans oh more discretion to the states. they want to give all the medicaid away to the states.

and so now mitt romney takes after the president for doing something the opposite of what romney said. >> bill: so if president clinton summing up this hollow message that we've heard from tampa about -- >> worse than hollow, by the way. you're not accused often of understating but it is more than a hollow message. it is a message if i might say so -- i think the president essentially said look, they want to take us back to what created this mess and -- i was thinking, i was listening to them. they want to take us back to hoover, to repeal the new deal. >> bill: going back to george w. bush is not far enough. the question i was going to ask so how would you and -- long-time representative of michigan really in touch with working class americans and everything, how would you make

the case for -- the opposite of bill clinton thing. here's what's wrong with the republican case. what's the case for re-electing barack obama? >> because you know, he thinks there has to be a partnership between the federal government and all government in the private sector. president clinton said so well, the issue is that everybody going it alone or are we working on this together? i represent very middle income areas. and if you go door-to-door, you see the benefits of our working together. whether it is now -- a housing available, a home available to people in the private -- in the private sector, the workers in the auto industry. now i think we just say look, romney said let them go bankrupt. this president -- i was on the phone often with my brother

john, debbie stabenow talking to the white house. it was a gutsy decision. i said look, we're coming back. there's further to go. but let's look at the record. and i think the record shows this is a president who is willing to take the steps and who will take more steps. >> bill: the romney campaign last night congressman, after bill clinton's speech, the chief spokesperson of the romney campaign said well, of course bill clinton was able to get things done because bill clinton -- i mean, talk about takes a lot of brass, right, to say i think it took a lot of brass to say this. what they said was bill clinton could get some things done because bill clinton was willing to work with republicans in congress to get a budget passed. barack obama has not proven himself willing to work with republicans. now you've been there. you've seen what's happened the last two years. >> look, two things. number one i voted for a

proposal from bill clinton which helped put this country on the right course. there wasn't a single republican vote for. and we lost seats because people had the courage to vote yes. that's number one. and everybody has to remember. number two i sit on the ways and means committee. paul ryan sits there. the republicans are unwilling to work with us. they don't talk. they don't talk with us. they are a roadblock. what they have done is what mitch mcconnell said was their creed and that is make sure we don't re-elect the president of the united states. so you know, bill, they've been a roadblock. so when they come on television and say look, the president hasn't worked with us. look, he tried. and he was criticized. some people in the democratic party said he isn't -- he isn't doing what he said he was doing.

but it was because the republicans said no way! it was the highway and they even were willing to work together to build highways. >> bill: look, i'm one of them who criticized president obama for spending too much time meeting with the republicans but he was up there. he tried. he had them down to the white house. he went up to the hill. they wouldn't play. >> that's the strongest argument i think. i told this to a reporter yesterday. they said how do we break the deadlock? i said the answer is re-elect the president because the people of this country whom clinton spoke to, they're going to send a message to the republican party and to the tea party people. to the republican party. i was in the state senate. decades ago. i worked on legislation. i will to sit down. i was in my early 30s, with the governor. i went into his office. we had to work out issues. he was in his rocking chair with

his blue sweater and he finally said to me on an important piece of legislation, sandy, we have a deal. that was mitt romney's father. one on one i met with him in my early 30s. >> bill: wow. >> so when it is said by the vice president that this isn't your parent's republican party it is not mitt romney's father's republican party. they're so far off they're falling off the edge and the country -- i don't think will let the country fall off the edge. >> bill: i gotta say the other way to get -- to get things done, not just to re-elect the president but to elect a democratic majority again in the congress which is so important, we're going to be talking a little bit with robbie mook, executive director of the democratic national campaign committee about that goal. senator, your -- congressman -- >> they confuse us all the time. we were together on the floor and if i put on my glasses my

brother -- >> bill: you look like him. you have a little more hair than your brother. congressman, it is great to see you. thank you so much for stopping by. come see us in washington, in the studio some time. >> you're such an important person in this country. >> bill: oh, no. >> keeping the truth going bill. >> bill: well, thank you. flattery will get you anywhere. congressman sandy levin, thank you. we'll be back with dennis van roekel from the national education association. here from charlotte north carolina. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting live from charlotte, north carolina

the site of the democratic national convention, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: you've got it. i've got to tell you i mentioned the other day, this is my tenth democratic convention. you know what? i'm still having a good time. i don't get tired of these conventions. yeah, i think they've outlived their usefulness but as long as they exist, i'll be there and it is nice to see all of your friends from around the country that believe in the same cause as you do. working for the same kind of people that you like to work for. and it is just great to get pumped up and that's one thing that this convention has certainly done after any democrats, i think anywhere in the country who didn't feel -- didn't understand how important this is. and weren't as excited in 2012 as they were in 2008, there are very few of those people left

today because after the first night with michelle obama and last night with bill clinton and a lot of others, the excitement here is just -- you can feel it here in charlotte walking around. and it is good for us to be here on radio row with all of you and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. particularly about bill clinton last night. if you saw the speech, as we were talking with congressman sandy levin he certainly summed up what was wrong with the republican case. he made the case very strongly for president obama for four more years and why he needed four more years. just a couple of highlights before we get back to your calls. one, he said here's the kind of guy that i'm nominating. here's one of the reasons i really like him. because of the kind of guy he is on the outside and on the inside. bill clinton. >> i want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside. [ cheers & applause ]

but who burns for america on the inside. [ cheers & applause ] >> bill: i love that! that does really describe president obama because he is unflappable. on the outside. in fact, but on the inside, yeah. red, red hot. read a little note this morning about how angry he was when the republicans refused to increase the debt ceiling. and finally, bill clinton said look, i know mitt romney keeps saying oh, he should have had this whole economy resolved. should have had all of the jobs back in the first year. he didn't do it fast enough. he doesn't deserve anymore time. bill clinton said get real! i know how long this takes. >> no president not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just

four years! [ cheers & applause ] >> bill: absolutely. absolutely. great way. great summing it up there for president bill clinton. let's jump out to good state of oregon. here is franklin calling. hey, franklin, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> bill: yes sir. what did you think last night? >> caller: oh, it just blew me away! it just blew me away! i was so impressed the whole time. i just sat there on the edge of my chair. i have loved bill clinton ever since he was president. and i think -- i love the way that he detailed every statement that he made. every statement he made he detailed it. and -- >> bill: and he threw it out there in a way that everybody could understand, right?

>> caller: right. he threw it out there. i mean there's no way you could not understand what he was speaking about. i'm still just blown away by michelle. >> bill: oh, yeah. >> caller: obama. >> bill: you know, it is sort of like -- frank, i appreciate the call. the only person that could top michelle obama was bill clinton. the only person who could possibly possibly even keep up with bill clinton is barack obama. so when you put those three boom boom, boom, not to mention you know, joe biden, elizabeth warren and sandra fluke and emennual clever and duvall patrick jumping in, boy, what a great line-up. in oakland california, hey shawn, what do you say, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. how you doing? >> bill: i'm doing good. what are your thoughts about last night? >> caller: absolutely bottom of the ninth inning, two outs, a grand slam!

>> bill: you got it. outta the park, baby! >> caller: out taf the park. it was just funny how this morning, i turn it over to news to see what their response was and morning joe you know. the haters are out there. talking about how bill clinton really doesn't like barack obama. >> bill: oh, bull -- i'm sorry. b. s. >> caller: they don't get it. they aren't going to get it. we need a million more like him, bill. >> bill: thank you shawn. this idea they're trying to get a rift between bill clinton and barack obama it doesn't exist! and boy clinton proved it last night! what a team. you know what? he will be out there working his butt off for barack obama between now and november 6th. this election might have been won last night in charlotte north carolina!

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>> announcer: live from the democratic national convention in charlotte, north carolina this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: hey welcome to charlotte, everybody. welcome to the time-warner cable arena. day number three of the democratic national convention. we are here on radio row. kind of quiet here at the convention -- the arena at this hour but pretty soon things will start filling up. capacity crowd last night for bill clinton. they had to shut the doors. couldn't let anybody else in. you know it will be that way

tonight when president obama comes. he was here last night just to give bill clinton a big bear hug after the speech. tonight he will officially accept the nomination, the culmination of this convention, what it's all been leading up to. here on radio row we've been joined by several friends along the way who are good supporters and good friends of the program. none better than dennis van roekel, president of the national education association. joining us now. hey, dennis, nice to see you. >> good to be here, bill. >> bill: i was with you the other night and randy weingarten with a whole group of teachers. so the nea, you have a lot of people here. >> 200 members who are sell gates to the convention. >> bill: just so you understand, these are teachers around the country right? >> right. >> bill: who went out and ran -- and were elected as delegates from their states. a little over 200. >> bill: that's bigger than a lot of state delegations here. >> over the years we've traditionally had one of the

largest if not the largest contingent from any one group. >> bill: and they were fired up, i gotta tell you. >> the place was rockin' last night! >> bill: was it ever! it must have been gratifying to you after -- talk about a contrast between tampa and charlotte. so in tampa, you had the keynote speaker who is probably the number one enemy of teachers today in the country with chris christie and here in charlotte the keynote given by julian castro who talked about how important education was how important teachers were. how much he had learned from his parents and from his teacher. total contrast. >> here's chris christie speaking during the first week of school for many kids all across this country. my grandson started school. he's in the class of 2025. here he had an opportunity before a national audience to talk to kids and the importance of education. work hard, do well and you can go anywhere and follow your dream and instead, he used that

time to bash and belittle the people who spend their professional life there. >> bill: i want to ask you about one of his statements that struck me when he said, trying to explain the difference between the democratic party and the republican party. he said they believe -- we, republicans believe in teachers, democrats believe in teachers unions. now you're the president of the largest teacher's union. >> i was in a high school math classroom for 23 years. i know who our members are. i talk to them all the time. i am one! and the idea that you can separate members from the union that i like you but i don't like your union. the union is the member! it is over three million people who work in public schools from early childhood to graduate level and he can say that and he can try to make the point it won't work. our members know we are the nea. >> bill: you cannot be proteacher and anti-teacher

union. >> no. what brought me into the union in the first place my first year of teaching, i wanted to work hard enough and care enough and deliver for every one of my kids. you soon learn you can't. you need a voice. when public policymakers are making decisions that impact your room, i needed someone to give my voice to policymakers that when you decide this policy, this is how it impacts my students. either positively or negatively. my union did that. that's why i'm there. and that's why i got involved. i wanted my voice heard. >> bill: last night talking about our voice being heard. bill clinton's voice was certainly heard. you were there. and he singled out education. the importance of education. like julian castro had before, the importance of investing in education. pretty powerful message last night. >> i think bill clinton's speech should be required reading for anyone who's voting in this

election. >> bill: amen! >> maybe it is the math teacher in me, the anal retentiveness but i get tired of 30 second sound bytes. i like someone to lay out the facts. here's what's true. here's what isn't. if you don't believe him check it out. but i believe he laid out very clearly the difference and the distinct difference between the two visions for america whether we're talking about education whether we're talking about middle class families and having a voice and a say and a livable wage to support their own families, i just thought he did a beautiful job. >> bill: stressing the importance of education. >> absolutely. >> i bet more people in the audience relate to that story both by governor -- castro, by bill clinton and by president obama because their life reflects that. if it weren't for education most of us wouldn't be sitting here today. and it wasn't because our parents had welfare status. it was because we had opportunity to get an education. >> bill: what role now

post-convention will teachers play in this election? >> well, you know, we can't compete with the dollars of the koch brothers and the super pacs but we can compete with over three million people who care deeply about not only education but about the students we teach and their future. and we have so many -- the activism level in our -- within our membership is higher than it was in 2008. they see this distinct choice and as bill clinton said, if this is the america you want, we must re-elect president obama and our folks know that. they believe it. they're going to be activists and organizing their community and get the vote out for president obama. >> bill: and do you get some pushback from people who say that teachers should not be involved in political campaigns? you must, right? >> yeah. and i love it when i do. because i say to them we're in public education. and if there's one of the purposes of public education is

to instill the ideals and the values of this great nation and part of that is civic responsibility. your responsibility as a citizen to understand, to know and to participate and as a teacher if i stood in front of my students and didn't do that, i think that would be a very poor role model for students. they ought to know that as citizens, we have a responsibility, a responsibility to be involved. >> bill: so can you put a barack obama poster in every classroom? >> well, no. we wouldn't do that. but a lot of social studies teachers do. especially at the high school level. they'll say choose any candidate from city council to school board to state legislature to a gubernatorial race just choose one. maybe they'll suggest i want you to volunteer two hours. do something. go down to the headquarters so it is not about a candidate. it is about being involved in the civic process and your responsibility as a citizen. >> bill: now one of the things -- you and i haven't talked about this, i haven't

seen it, i just read some stories -- there is a documentary out which republicans are pushing. they say this proves that the teacher's unions are -- where i stand. >> won't back down. >> bill: won't back down. this proves that teacher's unions are wrong. they're not caring about the kids. they're opposing any effort to get rid of teachers who are not producing, not delivering. not doing a good job anymore. i don't know whether you've seen the film. >> yes, i have. yes, i have. this one is very -- it is very different than waiting for superman which was put out as a documentary. this is a full-length movie. it is a movie! you get to write the script. so you can have teachers who are heroins and teachers who are the villains. you can have parents who are the heroins and parents who are the villains. the principal doesn't get to be both. what i love about movies about education is no matter how bad the situation is in about two

hours, we solved it. because it is a movie. and the thing about this one i am sure if anyone sees it, i will bet a tear will go down their cheek. they pull the heartstrings. it is a good story. i love the fact that they were organizing community members to say this is not the kind of public school my student deserves. my son or daughter. and i wish we could get it across -- everywhere across america. go down to policymakers and say how dare you shortchange public education. this really isn't about the parents and the teachers and one school. i think the message from this movie is much bigger. that in the richest most powerful nation in the world that you shouldn't have to rely on gambling or a lottery for your child to get a good education. we ought to demand from policymakers, here's what we need for every single student. here's what we plan to do in order to achieve the education. here's what it costs, step up to your responsibility and provide it. >> bill: so you think it is overall, a positive message? >> i know some of my members

will be very upset. i think it is true of any occupation or profession. >> bill: because some teachers are depicted -- >> sure. they depict the union in this movie as very negative. it doesn't look like my union. i wasn't offended because we don't act that way at all. we are absolutely in the leading the profession, changing education, transforming what it does for kids. so i understand a movie script. the actress maggie does a wonderful job. but the message in this and by the way, it ends with them taking over a school. in reality that's when the hard work starts. >> bill: oh, yeah. >> how do we actually change the school so that every kid is delivered? i know our members many of my members will be upset that one more time that their profession is depicted negatively and their union. and that's sad. the last two years have been so much educator bashing.

like somehow public service is the dos of this -- is the cause of this economic crisis. we didn't cause it. we're living through it. kids are suffering with higher class sizes and programs that are eliminated. i'm not distressed by the movie. i always like a good movie. >> bill: i gotta tell you we have not a good but a great convention right here. >> absolutely. >> bill: you're right in the middle of it with all of your members. thanks for taking time out for us. thank you for the nea sponsorship of the "full court press." >> thank you for coming to our reception. you did a great job. they loved you. >> bill: fired up and ready to go. when we come back, i'll talk to the head of the democratic congressional campaign committee about how we're going to win democratic control of the congress back this year. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct.

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

>> announcer: live from the democratic national convention in charlotte, north carolina this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour here on this thursday september 6th. the goal of this convention, of course to rally the base behind president barack obama for re-election. but everybody here knows there is a more complex agenda. it is also in order to help president obama achieve his agenda and his goals for the second term to maintain democratic control of the united states senate and to get the house back in democratic control. some people who are willing to work with the president. in fact, when you look at most of the achievements of president obama, they occurred during his first two years when nancy

pelosi was the speaker and he had people he could work with on capitol hill. the man -- one of the people, chiefly responsible for that effort to regain the house joins us now. executive director, the democratic congressional campaign committee affectionately known around washington as the d-trip or the dccc, robbie mook. you've got a lot of responsibility dude. >> well, it's great. i couldn't be happier to be at the dccc and here at this convention it has been great. >> bill: so you've got what? 435 seats up. every member of the house democrat is up for re-election. how many open seats? >> well, we have a number of open seats in particular because of redistricting. it is dozens. and some of these are completely brand new seats. in fact, texas, for example has four brand new seats this cycle. two of those are -- we're going to pick up two of those. they're great for democrats. so -- >> bill: give us the numbers. what is the count now democrats

versus republicans and what do democrats need to regain control? >> well, we have 193 seats right now. we need 218 to have a majority. we only need 25 seats to take back the majority which is less than most people think. just to put that in perspective. in 2006, when we took back the house, we won 30 seats. in 2008, we won 24 seats so it is actually not that many, you know. >> bill: it is do-able, you're saying. >> it is absolutely do-able. there are 66 districts around the country right now that president obama won in 2008 that are either controlled by a republican or are brand new open seat so there's plenty of terrain for us to pick up seats absolutely. >> bill: out of those 66, if you could get those 25 out. >> more than enough. actually, 19 of those 66 seats were also won by john kerry in his presidential campaign. so some of these are really good democratic districts.

>> bill: and now we're at this point where you -- i know the workers, i work with the dccc and my background a lot you recruit the candidates. you try to get the strongest candidate with the strongest message, raise the money. the dccc helps those of the strongest candidates with the money, in addition to what they can raise locally. how's it looking now? i know you know, you can't say we've got it in the bag. are you feeling good about it? >> we're feeling great. many of the viewers are probably familiar with our red to blue program. that's our program where we feature our marquee candidates from around the country. we have 50 people in the program. that's twice as many as we need to take back the house. and we've actually outraised the republicans for this cycle by about $6 million. >> bill: i was going to ask you if you're going to have the resources. >> we raised $1.3 million our best fund-raising ever at the end of august.

people are coming through in a huge way. and it has been great. >> bill: it is dccc.org. >> dccc.org. you can go and contribute now. any time you want. >> bill: but also if you go to dccc.org, you can find out an overview of the races across the country, the most important races and how they look and where you can direct your resources. >> exactly. >> bill: you mentioned red to blue. that's donna edwards right is one of the leaders. >> donna edwards also jared polis who i'm sure many folks saw speak. congresswoman edwards is speaking at the convention. they've done an outstanding job helping our red to blue candidates raise the money they need build the campaigns they need to win. actually, another interesting fact, we now have from our internal polling and public polling, we now have 26 districts across the country where the democratic candidate is either tied or leading in the polls. and as i said before, we only

need 25 seats to take back the majority. so we're in a really good position today. >> bill: do you think -- are members -- i'm curious about the role of president obama in helping with the house. are members looking to get president obama in their districts? is there any indication that he'll do some campaigning on behalf of senate and house candidates? >> this is a team effort. president obama has been a tremendous help to us. all across the country. in those battleground states, his campaign is organizing the most impressive turnout operation we've ever seen on any campaign. and that's going to have a tremendous effect on our campaigns and help really rising tide lifts all boats but not only in the battleground states -- actually, the highest concentration of races in california, illinois and new york. and even there, president obama's efforts are a terrific asset for us. >> bill: it is extremely

important. can't stress that enough. dccc.org. robby mook the executive director. stive israel is head of the dccc this year. president obama ain't going to be able to get the job done unless we have a democratic house for him. robby, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> bill: go get them. >> thank you. >> bill: i will be back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective.& >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, and on this thursday, september 6th, my parting shot for today we said yesterday that the first night of the democratic convention

would be hard act to follow and it was. but last night's line-up met the test! i mean what an inspiration first of all to see sandra fluke. she has become the symbol of american women everywhere who want nothing more than the right to control their own bodies, shut out by republicans, invited to speak last night by democrats. and, of course, of all of the senate races in the country none is getting more attention none is more important than massachusetts and elizabeth warren, she is the perfect candidate to recapture that seat of teddy kennedy. but the man of the hour and the star of the night of course, was the big dog himself former president bill clinton. so popular so powerful, so compelling that even president obama came to the convention to hear him speak. boy, it is fun to be part of this convention. it makes you proud to be an american and proud to be a democrat. that's my parting shot for today, folks. have a great great great thursday! be there tonight.